There are two card tricks known by the name of Spelling Bee.
Contents
Cards That Know Their Names
In Cards that Know Their Names, the magician spells out the card's names one at a time, moving a card from the top of the packet to the bottom for each letter. For example, he spells "Ace", moving one card from the top of the packet to the bottom as he says "A", another as he says "c", and a third as he says "e". The next card is turned over, and it is an ace. The ace is removed from the packet and the process is repeated for "two", "three", and so on, up to "queen", until the magician is holding only one card. This last card is a king.
Method
Before starting the performance, the magician has secretly arranged the thirteen cards in the following order from top to bottom: 3-8-7-A-Q-6-4-2-J-K-10-9-5 for Ace to King. For Two to Ace it is J-4-9-2-K-8-A-5-7-3-Q-10-6
The trick is then performed as described above.
Spelling Bee
Nine cards are selected at random. The magician then allows the observer to pick up one of the piles and look at the bottom card. This is the card that is to be memorized. Then the observer places the pile on top of another pile, then that pile on top of the final pile. The magician then asks the observer to spell out out the card. They are to deal down the cards face down, each corresponding with a letter of the name of the card. First the "face value", then "of", then the "suit". Finally they are asked to spell out any five letter word and their card is then placed on top of the pile. Then the magician turns over the card and it is the original card that the observer had.